Draft mechanism for railway-cars



. v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. B. THOMAS. DRAFT MBGHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS.No. 594,579.

#(No Model.) 7

Patented Nov. 80, 1897.

road-beds and around curves.

JAMES BRYANT THOMAS,

PATENT Fries.

OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

DRAFT MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

srnorrroA'rron forming part? of eat Patent No. 594,579, dated November'30, 1897.

Application filed ma s, 1397.

To all whom it may oo ncerm.

Be it known'that I, JAMES BRYANT THOMAS, a citizen .of the UnitedStates; residing at St: Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented anew and useful. Draft Mechanism for Railway-Cars, of which the followingis a specification.

The invention relatesto improvements in draft mechanism forrailway-cars.

The object of the presentinvention is to improve the construction ofdraft mechanism for railway-cars and to prevent the frames of cars andthe draft-timbers from being strained and otherwise injured through thelateral Vibration of the draw-head. and the draw-bar incident to thepassage of a trainover rough A further object ofthe invention is to.provide a draft mechanism whichwill permit a draw-head and its draw-barto vibrate laterally and thereby relieve the 'draft-timbers and thecar-frame entirely of the strain resulting from such lateral thrustswhen a rigid connection, such as the ordinary draft-timbers, isemployed.

Another object of the invention is to facilitate a ready removal of thespring and the follower-plates in the event of the breakage of any ofthe parts and to enable'new parts to be readily supplied and assembledwithout necessitating the removal of the entire draftrigging.

The inventionconsists in the construction and novel combination andarrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in thedrawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of aportion of a car provided with draft mechanism constructed inaccordancewith thisinvention. Fig. 2 is a reverse plan view. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal sectional view. Fig. at is a similar view showing one ofthe draft-irons. Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view illustrating themanner of introducing a follower-plate into and removing it from thedraft-irons. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of one of the draftirons. Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional View illustrating theconstruction of the supporting-stirrup of the draw-bar. Fig. 8'is adesen irb. 622,543. (No model.)

tail perspective view of the bottom piece of :the supporting-stirrup.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in the severalfigures of the drawings.

l l designate a pair of similar longitudinal draft-irons arrangedparallel with each other and .designed to dispense with the ordinarydraft-timbers usually arranged at each side of the shank or draw-barof adraw-head, and each draft-iron consists of a central rectangular frameor portion 2 and forwardly and rearwardlyextending arms 3 and at. Thecentral rectangular frame or portion 2 receives and forms ways forfollower-blocks 5, which are held against lateral movement by upper andlower flanges 6 and vertical side flanges 7, located at the outer faceof the draft-iron and extending around the rectangular opening of theframe or portion 2. The forwardly or outwardly extending arm 3,which isformed integral with the central portion of the draftiron, extends fromthe top of the frame or portion 2 to the front or end transverse sill 8'and is arranged against a longitudinal draft beam or timber 9. Thebody-portion of the upper arm 3 has its lower face flush with the lowerface of the .end sill 8 of the car 10 and is arranged above the plane ofthe shank or draw-bar 11 of afdraw-head l2, so that the latter and itsshank or draw-barfare unconfined at'the sides to permit thedraw-head tovibrate laterally without communicating any of the strain to thedraft-timbers or the frame of the car.

The central frame or portion 2 is provided at its top with anupwardly-extending lug 13, which is arranged in'a recess of thedrafttimber 9 and serves to strengthen the construction. The inwardly orrearwardly disposed arm 4: extends from the bottom of the centralportion or frame to one of the bodybolsters of the car-frame, and ablock of wood 14: is interposed between the body-bolster 15 of thecar-frame and the inner or rear side of the central portion or frame 2of the draftiron, making the construction perfectly solid and capable ofwithstanding successfully all the strains incident to such draftmechanism. The draft-iron is further strengthened by a longitudinalflange 16, extending from the front end of the upper arm 3 to the rearend of the lower arm and provided with a vertical portion 17, whichextends along the out side of the central portion or frame 2. As clearlyillustrated in Fig. 2 ol' the accompanying drawings, the draft-irons aresufficiently wide to permit the n ccessary lateral play or vibration ofthe car-coupling without any liability of the same coming in contactwith the strengthening-llangcs 10, which are located at the outer facesof the draft-irons.

The follower-blocks 5, which are arranged at the ends ot a spring 18 inthe usual maunor, are adapted to be readily removed from the draft-ironswithout detaching he latter, and the draw-head and the otherdraft-rigging and the upper and lower flanges U are provided withcentral recesses or notches ll), forming entrances to the ways andenabling the follower plates or blocks to be readily inserted in andremoved therefrom, as illustrated in Fig. 5 of the accompanyingdrawings. The spring 18 is disposed on a draftbolt 20, which isconnected to the shank or draw-bar in the usual manner by a pin, and itsrear end is provided with a nut.

One of the bolts 16 of each of the draftirons is located directlyopposite the entrance recesses 19 and is adapted to prevent anyliability of the follower blocks or plates accidentally slipping throughthe entrance-recesses. These bolts, which are located opposite theentrance openings or recesses 19, are removed when it is desired toremove the follower-plates.

The draw-head and its shank or draw-bar are supported by a stirrup 21.,depending from the end sill 8 and composed of vertical sides 22 and abottom connecting-piece The sides, which pass through openings 24: ofthe end sill S, are pivoted at their upper ends by bolts 25, disposedlongitudinally of the car and arranged in perforations of knees orL-plates 26, the end sill being reinforced at its upper face around theopenings Si by a suitable plate. The bottom piece 23, upon which theshank or draw-bar rests, has its ends 27 curved and bifurcated toreceive the lower terminals of the sides 22,and the curved ends 27,which are slightly hook-shaped, engage horizontal bolts or pins 28,which form pintles and hinge the lower ends of the sides 22 to thebottom cross-piece 33; but other forms of hinge-joints may be employed.

The openings 2t are tapering and gradually increase in width from thetop of the sill b to the bottom thereof, in order to permit the stirrupto swing transversely of the car, to yield to all of the lateralvibrations and thrusts of the car-coupling, and prevent the strain whichusually results from such movements of the draw-head from beingcommunicated to the car or the draft-timbers. lly permitting thecarcoupling to swing laterally instead of employing a rigid connectionthe framework of the car, the draft-timbers, and the draft-irons areabsolutely relieved of all the lateral strain which usually results whenthe draw-head and its shank or drawbar are rigidly mounted between twodrafttimbers in the ordinary manner and when a train is passing overrough road beds or around curves. The openings 24: are also ofsufficient longitudinal width to allow the stirrup a limited swinglongitudinally of the car, in order to permit the same to yield to anylongitudinal thrust of the car-coupling.

It will be seen that the draft mechanism is simple and exceedinglyinexpensive in construction, that it possesses great strength anddurabilityand increases the strength and stability of cars, and that itmounts the carcoupling in such a manner as to permit it to yield to alllateral thrusts and vibrations incidentto the passage of a train overrough road-beds and around curves and thereby rclieves the framework ofthe car and the supporting devices entirely from such strain. It willalso be apparent that itaffords free access to the spring and thefollower plates or blocks and permits those parts to be readilyassembled and removed without necessitating the removal of the otherdraft mechanism.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any ofthe advantages of this invention.

.Vhat I claim is- 1. The combination with a car, and a drawhead, of alatorally-swinging stirrup supporting the shank or draw-bar of thedraw-head and composed of vertical sides pivoted at their upper ends tothe car, and. a transverse bottom piece extending beneath the shank ordraw-bar of the draw-head and hinged at its ends to the lower terminalsof the sides, substantiall y as described.

2. The combination with a car provided in its end sills with taperingopenings, a drawhead, and pivots located at the upper ends of thetapering openings, of a jointed supporting-stirrup suspended from thesaid pivots and receiving the shank or draw-bar of the draw-head, thesides of the stirrup being arranged in the tapering openings, and thelatter being of-sul'licient width to permit the stirrup to swing bothtransversely and longitudinally of the ear, substantially as described3. The combination with a car, and a (l rawhead, of a stirrup dependingfrom the car, re eeiving the shank or draw-bar of the drmw head andcomposed of sides pivoted at their upper terminals and provided at theirlower ends with pins, and the horizontal bottom piece having its endsbifurcated to receive the sides and curved to engage the pins,substantially as and for the purpose described.

l. The combination with a car, of the longitudinal draft-irons arrangedin pairs, provided with ways and having upper horizontal arms extendingforward or outward, a drawhead having its shank or draw-bar locatedbeneath the horizontal arms of the draftirons, a draft-bolt connectedwith the shank or draw-bar, a spring disposed on the draftbolt, andfollower plates or blocks receiving the draft-bolt and arranged in theways of the draft-irons, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a car, of longitudinal draft-irons composed ofrectangular frames forming ways, and flanges arranged at the outer facesof the frames and provided with entrance-recesses, follower-platesarranged in the ways of the draft-irons and adapted to be passed throughthe entrance openings or recesses of the flanges, a drawhead, adraft-bolt connected with the shank or draw-bar of the draw-head andwith the follower-plates, and a spring disposed on'the draft-boltbetween the follower-plates, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a car, of longitudinal draft-irons comprisingcentral rectangular frames forming ways, and upper and lower horizontalarms extending forward and rearward from the top and bottom of theframe, follower-plates detachably arranged in said ways, and a draw-headconnected with the follower plates, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a car, of longitudinal draft-irons comprisingcentral rectangular frames forming ways and provided at their outerfaces with flanges having entrancerecesses, and upper and lower armsextending horizontally from the top and bottom of the frames,follower-plates arranged in said ways and adapted to be passed throughthe entrance-recesses, and bolts passing through the frames opposite therecesses, substantially as described.

8. In a device of the class described, a draftiron composed of a centralrectangular frame or portion forming a way and provided with entrancerecesses or openings communicating with the ways and upper and lowerarms extending horizontally from the top and bottom of the frame,substantially as described.

9. In a device of the class described, a draftiron comprising a centralrectangular frame forming ways, arms extending horizontally from the topand bottom of the frame, flanges extending around the rectangular frameand provided with recesses forming entrances to the said ways, thelongitudinal strengthening-flange extending the entire length of thedraft iron, and the lug extending upward from the top of the same,substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES BRYANT THOMAS.

Witnesses:

J OHN II. SIGGERS, FRANCES PEYTON SMITH.

